ONE
Sami tried to navigate out of the way of the oncoming
cluster of students, but with the stack of books she had, she couldn’t maneuver
quick enough without spilling them. The cluster of students didn’t seem to care
about this, and the tall, strapping young man almost directly in front of her
didn’t bother getting out of the way. He glanced at her and barely hid a sneer
as he purposefully angled his elbow to hit Sami’s shoulder, causing her to jerk
back. Her books tumbled to the ground and she tripped over one, landing with a
grunt on her hands and knees.
Sami sighed as she heard the young man let out a short
guffaw, and his two buddies snickered as well. Two of the three girls with them
giggled along, while one frowned, but didn’t say anything in Sami’s defense. Of
course, she wouldn’t. Sami was a Demihuman. In their eyes, the mere fact that
Sami was on a college campus and wasn’t either pulling weeds or pushing a mop
was an affront to their sensibilities. Even here in the supposedly “open
minded” nation of Argonia, Sami was a sub-human as far as most people, and even
the law itself, were concerned.
Sami started assembling her stack of books, her long
reddish-blond hair and long rabbit-like ears falling over her shoulders,
forming a curtain around her face. She didn’t need to see the other students,
and faculty, watching her. It’s not like any of them were going to—
“You need some help?”
Sami almost jumped at the voice, and looked up to see a
white-haired young man with icy blue eyes looking down at her. He gave her a
soft smile, and crouched down, helping pick up her things. “Uh… thank you…”
said Sami, cautiously. She stood, hefting her mostly-complete stack, and waited
for the boy set his part of the stack on top of hers. When he just kept them tucked
under his arm, she gave him a perplexed look. “Um…”
“Where are you headed? Can’t be too far, right? I’ll help
you carry these,” he said.